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Lintasatjeh.com - Gang Dolly — Surabaya's well known red right light district, Southeast Asia's largest, which has operated openly for decades — may finally have met its match in Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini, popularly known as Risma, who has set a final date for the closure of the infamous brothel complex.
Known for her independence — although aligned with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), she had clashed with both the party and the East Java Government — and for her progressive, hands-on approach to governance, Risma has campaigned against sex work in Indonesia's second largest city and has shut down a number of smaller brothel districts.
"It will be on June 18, and it will not be delayed," Risma said on Monday, as quoted by state-run Antara news agency.
Known for her independence — although aligned with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), she had clashed with both the party and the East Java Government — and for her progressive, hands-on approach to governance, Risma has campaigned against sex work in Indonesia's second largest city and has shut down a number of smaller brothel districts.
The city has been gearing up for its big move, with plans in place to help sex workers and pimps find other lines of work, and to provide financial assistance.
"We [will] teach them how to bake, make handicrafts, salted eggs and other things," Risma said. "We can do that, we have to lift our people from oppression."
She said that the estimated number of sex workers in the district had ballooned from just above 1,000 to 1,400, according to government estimates, with 99 percent of the workers originating elsewhere.
Religious leaders have pressured the city to act against prostitution, but Risma has consistently avoided a moralistic tone in her indictments of the sex trade.
"As a leader, I have to show [sex workers] there is nothing contemptible about what they do," she told Reuters in March.
She said that she had met with the Indonesia's social affairs minister, Salim Segaf Al Jufri, to confirm that enough funds had been allocated for payouts to sex workers.
"We asked the help of the social affairs ministry to provide allowances for the sex workers and also asked for the help of the East Java governor [to provide allowances] for the pimps," she said.
Salim said on Monday the ministry has set aside Rp 8 billion ($680,000) to fund the workers' trips home and help them start new lives.
"The social affairs ministry will provide them money for three months, as well as [for] transportation funds and business capital," he said.
He said the district's sex workers would receive a daily stipend of Rp 20,000 for three months after the closure with additional one time payments of Rp 250,000 to fund transportation and Rp 3 million intended as business capital.
"In Merapi, people [displaced by the volcanic eruption] were given Rp 400,000 in business capital and they managed to become more independent," Salim said, implying that Surabaya's program would see similar results.
"When the commercial sex workers are all in one place, they have a routine of getting tested once a month at the local clinic," Lilik Sulistyowati — the director of Yayasan Abdi Asih, which counsels Gang Dolly's women and trains them to find alternative jobs — told Reuters. "Now many of them have ended up on the street or in hotels with no support system."
Sumber: The Jakarta Globe
